I submit, and in You I believe.” When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained the distinctive quality of each, he said:

“A Muslim is one from whose tongue and hand Muslims are safe, and a believer is one whom people trust with their lives and property.”

It is clear that being safe from someone’s wrongdoing is different from trusting him with one’s life and property, for the latter is a higher degree. People are safe from the wrongdoing of someone they trust, but not everyone from whose wrongdoing they are safe is someone they trust.

Muhammad ibn Nasr said:

“Whoever claims that Islam consists in verbal profession and that deeds are not part of it has contradicted the Quran and Sunnah.”

This is correct, for all the texts indicate that deeds are part of Islam.

He said:

“There is no difference between him and the Murji’ah, who claim that faith consists in verbal profession without deeds.”

The response is that there is indeed a difference between them. Those among Ahl al-Sunnah who made this statement, such as al-Zuhrī and those who agreed with him, say that deeds are included in faith. They regard Islam as part of faith, and faith as more complete. This accords with the Quran and Sunnah.

They also say that people differ in their degrees of faith, which accords with the Quran and Sunnah. The Murji’ah, however, say that faith is part of Islam and that Islam is superior. They say that everyone’s faith is equal, so that the faith of the Companions and that of the most wicked people are the same. They also say that no one can possess some aspects of faith without the others. This contradicts the Quran and Sunnah.

Ahmad also answered this question in one of the two reports from him by saying, as al-Zuhrī did: “Islam is the declaration.” For he sometimes agrees with those who say this, and sometimes does not agree with them,